Penalty up to 3 years in prison for husbands secretly reading wife's messages

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Regarding this issue, the LAW SECRETARY answers as follows:

According to the provisions of Article 17 of the 2014 Law on Marriage and Family, husband and wife are equal to each other, having equal rights and obligations in all aspects within the family in the implementation of the rights and obligations of citizens as stipulated in the Constitution, this Law, and other related laws.

Your husband's act of secretly reading messages on your phone infringes upon the privacy rights, and the rights to the confidentiality of correspondence and phone calls of citizens. Specifically, Article 21 of the 2013 Constitution stipulates that no one may illegally open, control, or seize mail, telephone, telegram, and other private communication forms of others.

Additionally, Article 38 of the 2015 Civil Code also states that private life, personal secrets, and family secrets are inviolable and protected by law. The collection, storage, use, and disclosure of information related to private life and personal secrets must be agreed upon by the person concerned.

On this basis, the act of a wife or husband secretly reading each other's messages or emails, depending on the severity, may be subject to administrative violation handling or even criminal handling.

Regarding Administrative Penalties:

According to the provisions of Point a, Clause 2, Article 51 of Decree 167/2013/ND-CP, in the case your husband reads your messages and then disseminates these messages, thereby offending your honor and dignity, he will be fined from 1,000,000 VND to 1,500,000 VND.

Furthermore, if you request, your husband must publicly apologize to you, along with having the materials, documents, leaflets, writings, images, and sounds that he has disclosed or disseminated confiscated.

Regarding Criminal Charges:

If your husband's actions cause serious consequences, he may be prosecuted under Article 159 of the 2015 Criminal Code. Notably, if your husband discloses the obtained information, affecting your honor, reputation, and dignity, he may be sentenced to between 01 and 03 years of imprisonment.

Thanh Lam

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